A Win on the Road in the Hangar

The Habs once again went to the Air Canada Center to take on the Maple Leafs. Carey Price returned to take his place in the nets to face Jonas Gustafsson for the Leafs. Second game against his former team for Tomas Kaberle. The Habs healthy scratches are Petteri Nokelainen and Yannick Webber, so once again 11 forwards and 7 defensemen dressed for the Habs.

The first period was played mostly in the Montreal end of the ice however not a lot of shots. The first shot from the Habs came at nearly the halfway ppoint of the first on a short-handed breakaway by Lars Eller and it was stopped by Gustafsson. The period featured nice flow and passes. The first goal was a bizarre bounce when plekanec shot the puck high - bounced off the glass to the front of the net when Rene Bourque was johnny on the spot and put it by Gustafsson giving Montreal a brief 1-0 lead. Less than a minute late Montreal native Matthew Lombardi on a nice long breakaway deked Carey Price out of his pants and scored to tie the game with about a minute left to play. Shots on goal Montreal 8 - Toronto - 10.

In the second period there was once again good flow and nice passing with neither team taking advantage of their opportunities. There were a couple of nice clean hits notably Komisarek on Moen and Emelin on Crabb. The shots on goal were Montreal 9 - Toronto 12 for a total of 22-17 in favour of the Leafs.

The third period started well and after a long delay due to a problem with the glass behind the Habs net. Shortly after on a nice play by Darche and Gomez a great shot by Diaz got by a screened Gustafsson 2-1 Montreal the lone assist being given to Gomez. The Habs did not let up and continued to play well although giving up quite a few shots. Eller scored on a bad angle shot when it hit Gustafsson and deflected behind him 3-1 Habs with assists going to Moen and Kostitsyn. The game ended with the Habs shorthanded when Kaberle - who did not have a bad game, and Hal Gill missed the empty net.

The difference in this game was definitely goaltending. Price did not give up and bad goals and Gustafsson did have one go off him into the net.